Two-dimensional materials such as metal chalcogenides (for example, transition metal dichalcogenides) and metal oxides (for example, transition metal oxides) are used in the form of large area sheets in a variety of electronic devices owing to their electrical and optical properties. Some conventional techniques to form such large sheets include chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and/or mechanical cleaving to separate metal chalcogenide sheets from the crystals. The CVD techniques require processing at high temperatures (greater than about 600° C.) and substrates such as graphite oxide and silicon to obtain large area sheets. Many of these techniques are tedious, time consuming and are substantially expensive.